The Strauss Center is pleased to announce our project “Safe and Free: National Security Surveillance and the Rule of Law Across Democratic States” which aims to foster genuine comparative study on surveillance laws and oversight structures.

Safe and Free contributors include think-tankers, academics, former government officials, and journalists. Many have worked in, advised, or overseen their countries’ intelligence services or oversight bodies. Covered countries span the Five Eyes, Western Europe, Scandinavia, EU member states in post-Communist Europe, and advanced democracies in East Asia. 

In essays by leading experts in nearly a dozen countries, the project explores the variety of ways in which rule-of-law states seek to align national-security surveillance with their values and laws. The goal: genuine comparative study, with the aim of generating insights to help improve our own systems and navigate political and technological currents affecting many advanced democracies.

Please check out our newest project at safeandfree.io.